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Final Thoughts

This has been an interesting adventures with Mind Lab this year. But as I look back, I am not thinking this has been career changing or direction altering with my vocation. The journey has still been really beneficial. It has helped me crystallise what I already thought about learning and teaching, and was hopefully, already practicing.

This is an aspect of good leadership that is often overlooked. Giving staff a chance to just sit and reflect, rather than charging forward into yet another change or new direction. I have enjoyed this consolidation period. So, Mind Lab has not really exposed me to anything new, or refreshing. But everything we have covered has been of value as a reinforcing, consolidating theme.

The in class time was a great way of meeting likeminded educators who have a passion for moving forward and not continuing to do things the way they always have. However, like Charlotte Buchanan, I thought what we were exposed to “was a little less hype or WOW factor as I had hoped.” (http://charlottesmindlabblog.blogspot.co.nz/2017/10/changes-in-practice-week-32) I have been lead ICT teacher in my school for over ten years, and been to numerous Ulearn conferences, so I guess I was a little harder to impress with a new toy or gadget.

I think this consolidation period has been useful to reinforce criterion 7 of the Practicing Teacher Criteria: “promote a collaborative, inclusive, and supportive learning environment.” My assignment on using coding to develop computational thinking showed me the importance of the type of pedagogy that allows and enables students to take command and direction with their own learning, and to collaborate with and support their peers. I know I don’t have the expertise to drive the successful learning of coding within my room and that I am going to have to rely on the expertise, knowledge, interest and passion of my students.

I have also confronted my beliefs about my position as a leader within my school. I have vehemently eschewed a formal role in leadership within my school but I can see a way that I can perform a leadership role where I can make changes by guiding others and showing a different way of approaching things. I can now see myself in a leadership role without the formal, designated position. I'm happy with this role. This fulfills criterion 5: “show leadership that contributes to effective teaching and learning.” 

I’ve been teaching since 1980. That’s nearly forty years. I have seen many teachers my age who are sitting on their classroom thrones thinking they know all there is to know about teaching because they have done it the same way for so long now, they have ironed out all the creases. Even now, I am working with teachers who don’t want to change because they think they know how it should be done. And for them, there are no exceptions.

My dream for the future, is to never become one of these teachers. I want to keep growing, and morphing, and changing, and experimenting until the day I retire (which won’t be that far away now). I don’t want to retire and have my principal and school community heave a sigh of relief. I want my efforts to be celebrated when I retire and I want to be remembered as a teacher who tried to make a difference- right to the very end.

That is my dream for the future.

And the best thing about my dream is….

…. That it’s all in my hands.

 References

 Ministry of Education (nd). Practising teacher Criteria and e-learning . Retrieved from http://elearning.tki.org.nz/Professional-learning/

 Osterman, K. & Kottkamp, R.(1993). Reflective Practice for Educators.California.Cornwin Press, Inc.

Comments

  1. PrueR4 November 2017 at 14:43

    Wow, what wonderful ramblings throughout this last blog. Thanks for sharing your honesty Roger. I understand your perspective and your anticipated outcomes from doing this course. I have read the same comments from others not being overwhelmed by this course, yet still seeing its relevance and the act of doing it, participating and contributing. It would be wonderful to have more like you in our schools, with our younger generation. Being male (although the boys tell me it doesn't make a difference really?), a change agent willing to continue to bloom and grow (despite years of teaching like me), to learn and to share, unlike some, who think they know what is best and therefore don't see the need for change. You are right, all of it is in our hands, and if we choose to retire from the profession with a huge smile on our face, knowing we have made a difference, then that dream has indeed been fulfilled.
    All the very best with your onward journey and achieving your dream ...

    kia kaha
    Prue

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Philiprip5 November 2017 at 22:21

      Thanks, Prue, for your kind words. It's nice to talk to another growth mindset colleague. And growth mindsets are not age conscious. I think I should have said that perhaps I know some younger teachers who are equally unwilling to make changes. And also, I think the adage that the young ones are digital natives does not necessarily mean they know much about what pedagogy will work best with digital affordances.
      All the best in your work, Prue.

      Delete

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